PESHAWAR: Hashmat Ghani Ahmedzai, the brother of former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has pledged allegiance to the Taliban in the presence of Haqqani network leader, Khalil Haqqani, on Saturday.
A video, viral on social media shows, that Hashmat was taking the oath of allegiance to the Taliban but some sources said that he was forced to support the militant group, after his brother escaped the country.
The 60-year-old chief of grand council of the Kuchis, Hashmat expressed the hope that the Taliban will reach to some sort of agreement to form a government soon. He said that uncertainty, closure of civil service along with banking and commercial sector is taking a toll on people especially on the poor dependent on daily wages. Ghani urged that the Taliban should reach out to wider group of people inside and outside country. The brother of former President was of the view that Gulbadin Hekmatyar, former President Hami Karzai and Dr Abdull Abdullah “do not have much of track record of bringing people together.”
In another interview, he has supported the Taliban, saying that they have provided him full protection after the group seized Kabul by force. Ghani said that the Taliban have controlled Kabul within no time without bloodshed as the people of Afghanistan were fed up of the corruption of former regimes. He complained that those who ruled the country for the last 40 years did nothing for the Afghans.
Hashmat said, “Afghans now expect the Taliban to serve and work for the country in real sense. There are challenges as well as opportunities for them.” He hoped that if undue restrictions were not imposed on Afghanistan by international community, the Taliban can govern the country effectively.
He also supported his brother’s Ashraf Ghani escape from the country, saying that he had no other option but to leave the country as there was a plan to execute him and in such a situation the country would plunge into another war.